Are New NOS GM door handles "defects/seconds"?

[Lee H]

Three years ago I bought 2 sets of "NOS" handles, the bar code box. One set for after paint and one set for down the road. I just looked at them , they are nearly flawless, and no sticking of the plungers. Guess I lucked out.
Posted via Mobile Device

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by PT'S 70 CST

Guys I have to agree with Richard. With GM downsizing over the last few years and the dealerships across the US closing there have been a ton of dealerships that have been around for many years close down and what you guys have to think about is the inventory that these places are sitting on. I will give you one good example. There was a dealership in my home town here in Batesburg, SC. that had been in business since the early 40's and when they were part of the GM downsizing and closed their doors it was very sad. My good friend had been the parts manager at that dealership for 20+ years and when they shut down me and another good friend of mine had the privilege to be the first ones to get into several warehouses that this dealership had because of my buddy holding the keys and I have to tell you that it was packed full of parts and it just blew my mind at all of the stuff that was in these buildings. I was able to get a good bit of truck stuff. So just think this was just in my small town here in SC. and that does not scratch the surface to the huge GM dealerships across the country that closed down so I think you are just starting to see these parts surface more and more here lately.


PT

Good ole boy network! Nice. Makes me have friend...and NOS envy

Originally Posted by PICKMUP

Notice the NOS button won't even come out, as on originals. The insides are binding from being riveted way OFF CENTER. The other one just blew apart when the binding button was pushed in---by hand---no tools used. These are not "imperfections"...these are "defects", and should not be sold as nice new GM parts. It is not the seller's fault, but they still should not sell them in this condition. It seems reasonable to ask the seller to check & guarantee the condition of the parts they are selling.

That thing looks like a crappy aftermarket handle. Umm you should use the buyer protection plan from Paypal and Ebay. He WILL have to give you a refund or send you another set. They always side in the favor of the buyer. Ask me how I know. Been burnt by ebay and paypal both.

[72 tigger]

I opened the set I just bought and the buttons operate smoothly. The chrome looks good (not perfect) but overall I think they're nice OEM handles

[PICKMUP]

[B]Well the seller did replace the handles with two more new ones. One of them had the same problem with the button binding inside the handle. That's three out of four with this defect! I am thinking the manufacturer made a bad run of handles for GM with some OK and many not. GM or the supplier must have pulled the whole lot and just stuck them in a warehouse---until now. Someone is dumping the whole batch and they are everywhere. You would never see that many bad parts coming across GM's parts departments.

[mbgmike]

My friend from high school graduated from GMI and he said that when he worked at fisher body everything that was a second was destroyed or at least rendered useless. That was his first summer job as a student. destroying Parts in the columbus ohio FB plant. Gm never sold second quality parts as a whole. maybe some employees may have

[Already Gone]

One of the reasons I love being amember of this site is educational threads like this one.

[litew8]

I bought a pair of these external door handles everyone is talking about.
I bought mine here from this site, and they appear to be boxed the same way all
of the ones that have popped up recently on ebay. Could be that the board members
here are the same ones posting on ebay. I don't know.

Anyways, I took photos of old and new to compare them.
I think they might actually be GM reproductions, NOS would mean that they were
manufactured in the late 90's or whatever the dates on the boxes indicate. It could
go to imply that they were molded with original GM die or whatever.

Here are some pics. Notice that the new seem to be designed/composed the same
compared to the old. The only difference is the number stamp on the inside, and the
new handles have a logo in them also - center, to the left/top of the O outline.

new-left / old-right


old


new


Why I think they are made with original GM die molds - look at the number stamp on the right,
they both curve the same way. But the number on the far left is different.

CAV 6 = old, CAV 4 = new.
What does CAV mean?

[litew8]

Originally Posted by 70LonghornCST

IPLEASE NOTE: Barcodes have changed, and you can see this often times when a new label is stuck right over an older label. You can see that on Randy’s (teeitup) picture, and I have posted some as well. Notice the different placement of the print due to the change of the barcode length. Why? Not sure. Counterfeits? No. Let’s think critically here for a moment: If by theory, someone had taken the time to locate the original tooling for the handles, recreate the boxes down to the last detail, the probability of recreating an old version of a barcode label, and then making a newer version of a barcode label to apply directly on top is less than that of winning the Powerball Lotto. No crook would put that much effort (or have that much brains to think it through) for a $200 dollar part that has a limited market.

(See the imprint of the old label under the new label)


My overall feeling on these handles

They are genuine GM parts. They are later production runs and are NOS because they are no longer made. Few are flawless, but most NOS parts are not. I know that the there is a high level of subjectivity in terms of how old a part has to be before some accept it as NOS. Here is some food for thought: wine does not have to be aged 40 years to be wine. A 10 year old bottle of wine may not be as desired by certain connoisseurs as the 40 year old bottle, but it is still wine. However, the buyer has to be happy with their purchase.

I hope this post helps.
-Richard

Very nice post Richard. The only thing suspect to me is -
why are only the LH boxes double labeled and NONE of the RH boxes?

[litew8]

I think shadetree in another thread answers my question about the CAV -
"I think the "cav" numbers refer to a cavity for castings"

Sorry for playing devil's advocate with the ONLY LH boxes double labeled question
The only real question I have, did Official GM Reproduction parts stamp the logo on their stuff.

[newbraunie]

Originally Posted by litew8

Very nice post Richard. The only thing suspect to me is -
why are only the LH boxes double labeled and NONE of the RH boxes?

I suspect more LH handles were produced since they wore out quicker due to more use. I see many more single LH handles for sale out there. I rarely see a single RH handle for sale.

[litew8]

Originally Posted by litew8

The only real question I have, did Official GM Reproduction parts stamp the logo on their stuff.